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Peace, Safety and Human Rights Memorial Lecture

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Peace, Safety and Human Rights Memorial Lecture The 15th Annual Peace Safety and Human ights Memorial Lecture Hosted by the College of Human Sciences and its Institute for Social and Health Sciences in collaboration with the Psychological Society of South Africa, the Pan-African Psychology Union and the Apartheid-Era Victims’ Families Group Panellists Alegria Kutsaka Nyoka, Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee and Motheba Unathi Mohapi from the Apartheid-Era Victims’ Families Group (AVFG) 1 college of Define tomorrow. human sciences Why the Lecture? The Peace, Safety and Human Rights Memorial Lecture Series (in memory of the late Minister Abdulah Omar and Mr Joe Moabi) is an annual event, which has been endorsed by the Omar and Moabi families. The Lecture Series seeks to highlight the new frontiers and challenges facing the culture of democracy, peace, safety and human rights in South Africa and globally. Abdulah Omar and Joe Moabi fought a vigilant and uncompromising war against inequality and oppression. Their legacies remind us that the fight against oppression and tyranny is never over and that we are required to constantly renew our commitment to the cause of development equality and freedom. The Annual Lecture Series has been forged in the flames of their legacies, and as such, seeks to emblazon the agencies of peace, safety, human rights and social justice for all. The Series aims to deepen our understanding of freedom and prepare us meaningfully to implement the ideals of democracy. 2 Alegria Kutsaka Nyoka Alegria is the elder sister of student Activist Caiphus Nyoka who was brutally killed on 24 August 1987 by the apartheid security forces at his parents’ home in Daveyton, East Rand. Their father, Abednego Moses Nyoka, was bitterly disappointed that the inquest proceedings in 1988 found no one responsible for his son’s death. Mr Nyoka passed away in 1992 without getting justice for his son. As the elder sister, Alegria took over the baton and represented the family at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Benoni in 1997. The family was perturbed that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission failed to provide any details of Caiphus’ killers and he was declared just another victim of apartheid atrocities. The Nyoka family continues to seek justice for Caiphus and would like answers to several questions. Why was Caiphus not arrested if the Security Police had information that he had explosives in his possession? Why was he silenced before he revealed his alleged sources? How many times was he shot? One of his killers, Sgt Marais, confessed to the murder in a newspaper in 2019. Why has the State taken so long to charge Marais? The family, community and the country demand that those responsible are held accountable for the cold-blooded killing of Caiphus Nyoka. Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee was five years old when his uncle Ahmed Timol was killed in police detention in October 1971. Visiting his grandmother during the school holidays, Ahmed would engage with her about what happened to his uncle Ahmed. From the newspaper cuttings that the family kept and the findings of the subsequent inquest held in 1972, Cajee pieced together a picture of his uncle. In 2005, he published a biography on his uncle titled, Timol, Quest for Justice. In 2020, his second book The Murder of Ahmed Timol, My Search for the Truth, was published. Cajee disputes the police’s account that his uncle was arrested by chance at a police roadblock. He also compares the 1972 inquest findings to those of the 2017 inquest that ruled that Timol did not commit suicide but was murdered in police custody. The legal 3 team for Timol’s murder accused, Joao Rodrigues, has petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to overturn the 2019 ruling that dismissed his application for a permanent stay of prosecution. A ruling from the SCA is pending. Cajee is now working with other families demanding truth and justice for all martyrs killed by the apartheid regime. Together they have formed the Apartheid-Era Victims Family Group to represent the voices of these families. Motheba Unathi Mohapi Motheba Mohapi is the eldest daughter of Mapetla Frank Mohapi, a political activist who died in detention in 1976. Motheba was two years old when her father died and as such has no memory of him. She remembers frequent raids at their home by “the system” (the police of the time, mainly white). She also remembers staying with different aunts before the age of six due to her mother’s detainment. Motheba’s mother was the first person to testify at the Eastern Cape leg of the TRC. However, the inquest into her father’s death found that no one was responsible. As a family, the Mohapi’s had hoped that the TRC process would provide some answers about Mapetla’s death. If the perpetrator had come forward and shown remorse, the family might have been able to forgive them and find peace. Instead, they have found that it is difficult to forgive someone who does not seek forgiveness. Inspired by the Ahmed Timol case, the Mohapi family’s hope and their quest for the truth have been renewed. Motheba and her family would like their father’s inquest to be reopened, and the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Their father did not kill himself; he was killed. History must record this correctly and justice must be served. 4 Dullah Omar Abdulah Mohamed Omar actively championed the cause of freedom and quality in South Africa for 49 years. He survived harassment and persecution from the apartheid state, served as a defence lawyer for numerous banned organisations and political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and played a central role in the ANC delegation that ultimately negotiated a constitutional and political gateway to a democratic and free South Africa. Abdulah Omar was born on 26 May 1934 into a poor family of 11 children. At the time the Conservative United Party, through an oppressive system, formalised into the racist nationalist government that Abdulah Omar would challenge and defeat in the years to come, ruled South Africa. In secondary school, Ben Kies, an English teacher who mentored the young Omar, influenced his political activism. Abdulah Omar went on to become an advocate. In 1957, Abdulah Omar received his LLB through the University of Cape Town. His university years (1953 - 1957) were marked by participation in the New Era Fellowship, a group affiliated to the non- European Unity Movement. In 1960, Abdulah Omar was admitted as an attorney. Twenty-two years later, he was admitted as an advocate of the Supreme Court. 5 An ‘illegal’ partnership with a black lawyer, Cadoc Kobus, and a Group Areas Act permit to practice in the Langa Township signaled the beginning of Mr Omar’s distinguished career. During the course of his career, Mr. Omar represented the Pan Africanist Congress, prominent members of the African National Congress, and various progressive trade unions, religious and civic organisations. He was often required to take trips to Robben Island where he provided legal counsel, friendships and news from home for his incarcerated colleagues. In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela speaks of awaiting news about the serious car accident his wife had been involved. Abdulah Omar was able to communicate this information on one of his trips, which greatly relieved an anxious husband. When negotiations began for the release of Nelson Mandela, Abdulah Omar was his spokesperson. In 1983, Abdulah Omar began working with the United Democratic Front (UDF), which resulted in him being restricted to operating within the Wynberg magisterial district. He was also banned from attending any political gathering where the government was criticised. This did not prevent his election to the chair of the UDF in the Western Cape in July 1987. His steady leadership provided the platform from which to reject vocally the tricameral parliamentary system. Abdulah Omar famously stated that working with the tricameral system was like trying to “cross the river on the back of a crocodile”. In the same year, Abdulah Omar was elected as the Vice- President of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, an organisation he helped form. Although he was offered the presidency of this organisation, he turned it down, believing that a black African should take the leadership role. Pius Langa, South Africa’s second Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, assumed the presidency role. Three years later, Abdulah Omar was appointed head of the newly-formed Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape. This Centre had close ties with the African National Congress, and much of the legal research that helped shape the Constitution was conducted under the guidance of Abdulah Omar in his capacity as its director. A year later, after having been appointed as an African National Congress National Executive Committee member, he worked on the constitutional committee and was part of the negotiation team that forged the way for a democratic South Africa. 6 In 1994, Abdulah Omar was appointed by President Nelson Mandela as the first Minister of Justice in democratic South Africa. This daunting portfolio required a complete overhaul of the intelligence services, the fragmented judicial system and the inconceivably damaged social, psychological and political landscape of post-apartheid South Africa. Minister Omar addressed these challenges by establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Public Protector, and a unified Department of Justice that served all South Africans. In 1999, Minister Omar was appointed as the Minister of Transport in President Mbeki’s cabinet. As with the justice system, the transport system also received an overhaul under Abdulah Omar’s steady guidance.
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